The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-23
IN THE BERNESE OVERLAND
Three Famous Points About Which
Everything in Switzerland RevOlves.
Luzerne and the Rigi. Interlaken and the
Jungfrau. and Chamounix and Mont
Banc-lauterbrunnen Valley.

eTs TsVoise-sue Ilg the JungIrau. ana hons
Blanc. Luzerne and the Rigi. Interlaken and
| the Jungfrau, and Chamounix and Geneva and
| Mont Blanc. Geneva should hardly be recks
| onec in connection with Mont Blanc, for there
| isreally nothing of it. On specially clear day
/ the Mont Blanc ridge can be seen in the far
distance, lifting itself like backbone of ice and
against the horizon. and that is ALL A fourth
| might be- added-the Matterhorn and Mount
| Cervin peaks of the Monte Nora range, with Ger
| matt as the central point. bat this is yet
| the real line Of travel It requires detour to
reach this, whiie tia other three every body sees,
no matter in what order he may reach them.
The best way certainly is to take them in the or
der named. Then they come to proper climax,
and the last view and latest memory of Switzer-
land is of the monarch of mountains. Coming
into Switzerland by tho way of Bale, Basel
the Germans have it. it is but little while until
you are in the historic heart of the country. It
is scarcely worth while to mention that short
distance from Heidelberg is Baden-Baden with
its Kursaal and it's gaming. 1t is beautiful
place, splendid avenues, heavily shaded, made
up of hotels, aud parks, and bazars, wherein
drinking and playing, and lounging seem be
the only natural and possible methods of bust
ness as we'll as recreation. Baden-Baden might
do to play in for a time but how anybody
live there seriously and earnestly is quite be-
yond comprehension. Bale, is known, is one
of the thriving, prosperous manufacturing cities
of Switzerland. 1t is full of spirit and enter
prise, and with Berne and Geneva serves to
mark the beginning, the middle and the end Of
the tourists journey. Other things than the
mere geographical fact indicated that
in the land of the Swiss. Tue country took on the
Swiss undergraduates everywhere, with their
heavy. overhanging roofs, and the small. we'll
titled fields that crowded the valley through
which the road wound its way. The chalet is
an ever-present fact it is everywhere. in the
valley, on the hillside, on the top: in town.
village and farm-the chalet is the
prevailing and only style of arch
itecture. Not far from Luzerne the
road skirts the banks of Lake Sempach. where
was fought the battle in which Arnold Winkereid
received the Austrian spears into his body. and
made way both for liberty and his own immor-
tality. A chapel to his memory, and in which
his remains sepultured, is one of the first
things that claim reverent attention.
Luzerne is beautiful for situation and has at
fractions enough in and around it to draw a con-
stantly increasing permanent population, and a
transient census only second to that of Interlaken
Located at the head of the Lake of the Four Cam
tons, nothing more poetical could be imagined
than the pretty little town stretching itself
around the curve of that miniature sea, every
foot of whose bank is instinct with Swiss his
tory. This is tho land of William Tell On
this lake is the odd little structure known as
Tells chapel The part played here in the
history of the republic will not attempt to
peat, lost the hiss of Guide Book greet me;
but n one who has read the life of Switzer-
lands hero will disremember it. William Tell,
with all the embellishments that legend and
story have wreathed about his name. had his
home here. The apocryphai stories too
strongly Embedded IN the affections of humanity
to be done away with by any iconoclast When
I saw him again shoot the apple off his boys
head at the Paris opera-house, as | did last
night. and witnessed the tremendous interest
and enthusiasm that the act created In the large
audience, I was satisfied that his
torical book-maker could ever disturb
this cherished idol The Rlgi is the chief
ornament Of Luzerne rather the chief at
traction. It was not all expected. / looked for
some snow-capped peak towering above the lower
range of mountains and was inclined to be dis
appointed when it resolved itself into bulky
mass of sere rock and green nountain-side, with
a water line of twenty-five miles in crcumfer-
ence and at least half dozen peaks or crests,
one of which-the furthess the east-is the
eliminating point, and takes the name of Kuhn.
The next day when l mounted to this summit
it was plain why the Rigi Kuhn is the cell
ebrated mountain. probably, in the world. and
why it commands, and will continue to
mand, the homage now paid it. 1t is not for it
self, but for what it reveals It clear,
warm day, and the ride mp the inclined railway
that now fastens itself to the sides of the Rigi
was constant delight. When finally tha
Kuhn was reached, and in that marvellous
blue my eyes looked upon the panorama of one
hundred and twenty-fi five miles Of Bernese Alps
unrollei before them, and hundreds OF
white-crested peaks. including the Oberland
Titans. there nothing to be done, as there
Is nothing else to be done now, than to stand in
silent awe. Words would be useless, if not pro-
fame. It of the days vouchsafed
travellers Not always is the Rigi kind Often
it's summit is wrapped in clouds, and nothing is to
be seen. At other times, the following
day, the clouds like great sea, ont OF
which rise the snowy submits. like the peaks
of drifting icebergs, and it appears almost pos
sible to set sail the tremuous bosom of vapor
to reach the crags as they pierce through. On
such a day .he sight must be grand one, as it
was described afterward by friend. who thus
saw it; but when the sun is without abatement,
and the sky without q rift to lie for hours upon
the Kuhn, and look now upon the irregular line of
Anime peaks that define themselves in peerless
white against the lambent blue. and then to
rest tho eye upon the varied landscape that
spreads itself all about you, down, down, thou
sands of feet, if it series OF toy pictures
suck as you could arrange at will out of boxes Of
blocks you might buy at Charley Mayors was
an experience never to be forgotten, and which
can only be repeated at the same place and under
the same circumstances. Seven lakes-miniature
lakes, thay looked as Irecall them-were within
view, nesting themselves in the little narrow
valleys that are the conspicuous and unique
feature of Swiss landscape Over there is the
lake on the banks of which the battle of Margar-
ten, the Thermopylse of Switzerland, was fought.
There twelve hundred of the hardy mount